


Wayward Wings

by artenon



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-31
Updated: 2013-07-31
Packaged: 2017-12-21 23:36:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,963
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/906284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artenon/pseuds/artenon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As he straightened up, his wing jerked, and Eren stiffened as he felt it smack into something—or rather, some<i>one</i>.</p><p>“I’m so sorry!” he burst out, but as he whirled around, his wings gave another spasm and hit Corporal Levi in the face. <i>Again</i>. “Sorry!”</p><p>He held his wings stiff against his back, though he could feel them straining to move, as he stared at Corporal Levi.</p><p>Corporal Levi, whose face and hair were now half-covered in mud. Corporal Levi, whose expression hadn’t changed but who was more likely than not livid. Oh, crap.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wayward Wings

**Author's Note:**

> I had a mighty need to write Ereri wingfic. Can you imagine Eren with twitchy, uncontrollable, expressive wings. CAN YOU. (Everyone has wings in this fic, by the way.)
> 
> Hff, I'm still trying to find my footing with these characters, so I'm not sure how good this is, but here you go anyway.
> 
> Also, I FRICKED UP. For some reason I always thought that the castle where Levi's squad stayed was outside the walls? And I literally realized with like 300 words to the end of the fic that that made no sense? MY INTELLIGENCE IS ASTOUNDING. The blunder was enough to make me consider not posting this, but then I was like, "It's self-indulgent wingfic that's already fudging with how long they stayed in that castle, what's one glaring error." Right? Also, it's like 1:30 AM right now, and things always sound like a better idea at 1:30 AM. I might regret this in the morning.
> 
> Bye.

It was raining that day.

The sound didn’t reach the dungeon, so Eren didn’t notice when he woke up, instead carrying out his morning routine as usual: He washed up, combed his fingers through his hair, and then sat down on his bed to take more time with his wings.

His fluffy, brown, too-small wings.

“C’mon, grow,” he whispered as he straightened his feathers. “I know you can do it.”

He stood and stretched out his wings, but he knew it’d be pointless to try and fly. At most, he could lift himself up maybe a couple feet before the strain became too much and he went crashing back to the ground. It was a feeling Eren was far too familiar with, and not one he was keen on experiencing that morning.

His wings quivered—that was another characteristic of his wings Eren didn’t like, their unconscious _twitchiness_ —and Eren forced them still as he exited the dungeon. It was humiliating enough, he thought as he headed for the dining hall, that his wings were still too small for him to fly; he didn’t need the Special Operations Squad to see how ridiculously twitchy they were and think even less of him. Though he wasn’t sure how much lower their opinion of him could go, since they already considered him a monster…

Well, they weren’t wrong. He could turn into a Titan, after all. Eren was determined to use his powers for the good of humanity, but he couldn’t exactly blame anyone for looking at him and seeing a monster. He wasn’t even sure how he felt about himself.

“Eren, is something wrong?”

Eren started. He hadn’t even realized that he’d just walked right past Petra.

“Good morning, Petra,” he said, plastering a smile on his face before turning around. “Nothing’s wrong.”

Petra’s smile was a lot more genuine than Eren’s, and unexpectedly kind. “Your wings were drooping,” she said, her own wingtips extending towards him slightly as she spoke.

“Oh,” Eren said. He glanced reflexively at his wings, but they’d jumped with him when he’d been startled by Petra, and were now twitching on his back like usual. He glared at them as he cut off the movement. Damn, he’d been lost in thought and forgot to control his wings…

He stared at Petra’s wings in envy. They ruffled a little, but calmly, not like Eren’s spastic wings. They were a lot bigger, too. Definitely big enough to fly.

But of course, she was an adult, and most people could fly by their early teens. Meanwhile, Eren was already fifteen, and yet…

“Is it the rain?”

Eren perked up. “Rain?”

Petra shrugged, feathers rippling. “Well, a lot of people get restless when it rains. I mean, it’s not ideal flying weather, is it?”

Eren hardly heard her. “It’s _raining_?” he asked. Now that he listened, he could hear a faint pitter-pattering sound. Holy shit.

“It’s raining!” He looked at Petra eagerly. “May I go outside?”

He wasn’t allowed to leave the castle without supervision, but surely they’d make an exception just this once. It wasn’t like he was going to run away. He just wanted to see the rain.

Petra seemed confused. “Why?”

“I’ve never seen the rain before,” Eren explained. He could feel his wings fluttering in excitement, but he didn’t bother to stop it this time.

Only those in the Scouting Legion would ever get to experience rainfall while the rest of humanity remained inside its dome. When Eren had first left the walls with Levi’s squad, he could hardly believe it. The air outside was fresher, the sun warmer, and now, it was _raining_. He wished Armin and Mikasa could be here to experience it with him, but he knew they would be joining him soon enough. And then…and then they’d take back their land from the Titans.

Earnestly, he refocused his attention on Petra, whose face had cleared in understanding.

“I get it,” she said. “Let’s go outside.”

“Um, if you were going to breakfast—” Eren started awkwardly, but Petra waved him off.

“It’s fine. Let’s go.”

She took him to the entrance and opened the door.

“I’m staying here, though, so don’t leave my sight,” she told him. “Sorry, but it’s the rules.”

“It’s okay,” Eren said absently, transfixed by the rain in front of him.

He reached a hand out and drew it back sharply a moment later, staring at his palm in amazement. He hadn’t known what to expect, but the rain kind of…stung, a little.

He stretched out his arm again, marveling at the feeling of the rain hitting it, and then stepped carefully outside. Once he was standing fully outside, it was like a spell broke, and he started running, arms thrown wide open.

“It’s raining!” he repeated, staring up at the sky as he ran.

He slipped on the muddy ground and let out a shout as he fell ungracefully down, but then he just sat there and laughed. _This_ was the outside world. This was where humans belonged, out here, where water fell from an endless sky. Not enclosed in some unnatural dome.

“Oi, Eren.”

Eren jumped a little at the voice that carried clearly to him despite the rain, and he turned back to the castle entrance. Corporal Levi was standing there with his arms crossed, his huge, sleek black wings almost covering Petra, who was mouthing something at him, looking apologetic.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” the Corporal asked.

Eren scrambled to his feet, getting even muddier in the process, feeling ashamed and childish. “I’m sorry, sir,” he said, hurrying to them. “It’s just—I’d never seen the rain before.”

Corporal Levi looked, as ever, unimpressed with his response.

“Get in here. Leave your boots by the door. I don’t need you making this place even dirtier.”

“Yes, sir,” Eren said, and hurried to obey, bending down and tugging his boots off.

He was embarrassed to have been caught by the Corporal like that. He didn’t want to give off the impression that he was still a kid, but that was exactly what he’d done, wasn’t it?

Still…he didn’t regret it, because being out in the rain had felt _amazing_.

As he straightened up, his wing jerked, and Eren stiffened as he felt it smack into something—or rather, some _one_.

“I’m so sorry!” he burst out, but as he whirled around, his wings gave another spasm and hit Corporal Levi in the face. _Again._ “Sorry!”

He held his wings stiff against his back, though he could feel them straining to move, as he stared at Corporal Levi.

Corporal Levi, whose face and hair were now half-covered in mud. Corporal Levi, whose expression hadn’t changed but who was more likely than not livid. Oh, crap.

“Petra,” he said in a controlled voice, “you can go to breakfast now.”

“Yes, sir!” Petra glanced at Eren, seemed about to say something, but changed her mind, nodded at them, and left, leaving Eren alone with the Corporal.

“Come on,” Corporal Levi said, and strode down the hall.

“R-right!” Eren said, hurrying to catch up with him. “Um, where are we going?”

“To get cleaned up, obviously. Otherwise you’ll drip all over this damn castle.”

“Right,” Eren said, hunching his shoulders, wings pressing uncomfortably into his back where he was forcing them steady.

“Can’t have you catching a cold, either,” the Corporal added, throwing him a sharp sideways glance. “Although they say idiots can’t catch colds, so I guess that means you’re safe.”

Eren didn’t know how to respond to that, so he didn’t. Corporal Levi was his superior, and he was Humanity’s Strongest, and Eren respected him a great deal, but his flippant attitude made it hard for Eren to figure out how to act around him.

Corporal Levi took him to the washroom and, for a few minutes, ignored Eren, leaving him to stand there awkwardly as the Corporal wiped his face and hair with a wet cloth. Eventually, he turned to face him with a scowl, and Eren tried not to stare at the way his damp hair stuck to his forehead.

“Don’t just stand there looking like an idiot. You’re soaked,” he added after a beat, dropping the washcloth. “Do you have any other clothes?”

“Um.” He did have a few other clothes in his room, but that was all the way down in the dungeon. “Yes, but—”

Corporal Levi snorted. “You’re useless,” he said. “Stay here. And start cleaning yourself up, for goodness’s sake.”

He swept out of the room, and Eren flinched as the door slammed shut.

He pulled his shirt off and picked up the discarded washcloth.

He wasn’t _that_ dirty, Eren thought as he started wiping himself down. He was mostly wet. Okay, so his arms were a little muddy. His wings, too, probably. And his pants were really dirty.

Sighing, Eren shimmied out of his pants and kicked them aside. His legs weren’t dirty, just damp and cold from the water seeping through the material.

The door opened, and Eren spun around. It was Corporal Levi, back with a change of clothes and towels. Eren stared, feeling self-conscious as he stood there in only his boxers, his wings coming forward to his sides like they wanted to cover him up—they were too small to cover him completely, and he thought that Corporal Levi’s large wings could probably envelop them both.

The Corporal was unfazed by his mostly-naked appearance, simply moving to sit on the stool by the tub and pointing to the floor in front of him. “Sit down. Face that way.”

Voicing an affirmative, Eren sat cross-legged with his back facing to the Corporal, who started cleaning the mud from his wings. They quivered under the sensation of a stranger’s hands touching them, and Eren started fidgeting himself, uncomfortable.

“Is something wrong?”

“Nothing,” Eren mumbled, trying to keep his wings still, but they twitched every time Corporal Levi touched them.

The only other person who had ever taken care of Eren’s wings besides his parents was Mikasa and she—well, she was family. It was weird to feel someone else touching them.

“Do they ever stop _twitching_?” Corporal Levi asked, cutting into his thoughts.

“Sorry,” Eren said, wincing slightly and trying harder to stop their movement.

His wings went stiff, and Corporal Levi paused for a moment. “That’s no good, either,” he said. “Just relax.”

“They’re always like that, sir,” Eren said apologetically. “Sometimes Mikasa strokes them to calm them down, but—”

“Like this?”

Eren’s breath hitched as the Corporal’s hand closed on the base of his wing, where it connected to his back, and started massaging.

 _No, not like that_ , he wanted to say, because Mikasa’s quick, soothing, gentle strokes felt nothing like this. This felt, for lack of a better word, _sensual_. Mikasa never touched that sensitive spot, either.

But Eren said nothing as Corporal Levi ran his fingers down the rest of his wing before returning to the sensitive spot, rubbing it with his thumb.

Eren bit back a moan. _Fuck._ This was not going to happen.

“Corporal,” Eren managed, his face hot, “could you—not touch there?”

Corporal Levi moved his hand away, sliding it down the length of his wing again before finally letting go, only to return to cleaning it as if nothing had happened.

They sat in silence for a stretch of time. Eren stared at his hands and tried to ignore the feeling of the Corporal’s hands cleaning his wings, occasionally pausing to straighten a feather. He wondered if he should tell him it was a hopeless endeavor; no matter how hard he tried to maintain them, Eren’s feathers were always ruffled, a sharp contrast to the sharp sleekness of the Corporal’s wings. His wings were awkward and clumsy; the Corporal’s were—well, majestic.

Struck then by the urge to look at his superior’s wings, he turned to peer over his shoulder.

“What is it?” Corporal Levi asked, withdrawing his hands from Eren’s wings.

“Nothing,” Eren said, quickly turning around again.

“Hey. What is it?” he asked again, sounding irritated.

“I just wanted to look at your wings,” Eren admitted, feeling his own wings unconsciously pull towards his front again.

“You see them every day,” Corporal Levi said, still annoyed.

But Eren wanted to see them up close—and touch them, but he wasn’t going to tell the Corporal that part. He stared silently in front of him, wondering what he should say, but then the Corporal spoke again.

“You have mud in your hair,” he said, changing the topic. “Did you clean yourself up at all while I was gone?”

Before he could respond that yes, yes he did, a bucket of cold water was dumped unceremoniously over his head, and Eren gasped at the shock.

“W-what the hell was that—?” Eren started, twisting around in his seat.

Corporal Levi cut him off by throwing a towel in his face.

“Turn around and dry yourself off, brat.”

Sulkily, Eren turned around and did as he was told. When he felt Corporal Levi start to dry his wings, he buried his face in the towel. This just wasn’t fair. Corporal Levi grooming his wings…

He moved the towel to dry his hair, but let it fall over his eyes, cursing himself for being a pervert. It wasn’t like this meant anything, except that the Corporal didn’t trust Eren to live up to his standards of cleanliness on his own.

“What are you thinking?” Corporal Levi asked.

“I want to touch your wings,” Eren blurted, and that was completely _not_ what he had meant to say, but he supposed it was better than, _I have an unhealthy hero-worship crush on you that’s only grown since getting to know you as a person_ , or, _You touching my wings is giving me really inappropriate thoughts because I’m a damn pervert_.

But his admission had said basically that, anyway, hadn’t it?

Corporal Levi tilted Eren’s head back. The towel was still covering his eyes, and before Eren could figure out what the Corporal was doing, a pair of lips covered his own.

Oh. Okay.

It was just a short kiss, and when Corporal Levi pulled back, Eren twisted around so he could kiss him properly, the towel falling to the floor as he moved to straddle the Corporal’s lap on the stool—and it was kind of awkward, because Corproal Levi was fully clothed and Eren was only in his boxers, but _fuck_ , Eren thought, giddy, _I’m kissing the Corporal_ ; he’d get over it.

The rational part of his mind thought that they should be talking about this. They should _really_ be talking about this, but Corporal Levi put his hands on the sensitive spot on Eren’s wings, and Eren forgot why there was any problem in the first place.

Assuming permission, Eren brought his hands around the Corporal’s back and buried his hands in his wings, which were surprisingly soft and warm. And they didn’t so much as twitch under Eren’s fingers—Corporal Levi’s wings were calm and steady, while Eren’s were trembling all over. When he tried to force them to stop, the Corporal gently tugged on the feathers.

“It’s okay,” he said.

But Eren was self-conscious of his small, uncontrollable wings, especially in comparison to the Corporal’s goddamn gorgeous wings, and he hid his face in the older man’s neck.

“…Oi,” the Corporal said.

“Can your wings cover both of us?” Eren asked (because what was self-control), gripping his shoulders and looking over them to avoid eye contact.

The Corporal didn’t reply, but his wings swept around them, wingtips caressing Eren’s lower back.

Eren couldn’t deny grinning stupidly about the Corporal so easily granting his request.

As if he could hear his thoughts, Corporal Levi muttered, “I spoil you,” and Eren really had to wonder about the Corporal’s definition of spoil because his life hadn’t been exactly easy lately. But he could worry about that later; he still didn’t know what this meant for the two of them, but Corporal Levi was stroking his wings absently and the silence between them was comfortable, so, for now, he was content to stay where he was and enjoy the quiet moment.

Of course, his stomach chose that moment to growl. Loudly.

“Ah,” Eren said, smiling embarrassedly, “I haven’t had breakfast yet.”

“Me neither,” Corporal Levi said.

They stood, and Eren put on the clothes Corporal Levi had brought for him.

“Okay!” he said, straightening up. “Let’s go—”

He broke off as his wayward wings jerked and slapped Corporal Levi in the face. For the third time that morning. _Damn it_ , he really hated his wings.

“I’m sor—” he started, but the Corporal didn’t look angry. He just grasped his wing gently with his hand and gave it a quick stroke.

“You’re okay,” he said, and flicked him lightly with his wing as he walked past him to the door. “I like your wings.”

He…what? Eren’s troublesome wings—the Corporal _liked_ them?

“Oh, what is it now?” Corporal Levi asked, already waiting for him in the hallway.

“Nothing!” Eren said, hurrying to join him. “Just—that’s the first time anyone’s said they like my wings.” As if on cue, they ruffled proudly.

Corporal Levi actually looked startled, and then he _smiled_. It was a tiny little smile, but a smile nonetheless.

“Well, everyone else is an idiot,” he said. “Now, stop babbling, or don’t you want breakfast?”

“I want breakfast,” Eren said. He smiled as he walked beside the Corporal to the dining hall, figuring that everything would work out all right, and his wings fluttered a little before resting calmly behind him for the first time in a long while.

**Author's Note:**

> I have some headcanons about this 'verse that didn't make it to this fic, but I don't know if I want to make this an actual 'verse that I think about/write things for because _I fricked up_ hahahaha rolls away.


End file.
